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Page 10 - Hermann Area Visitor, Fall Edition 2015
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Stone Hill
From page 3The Helds were raising feeder pigs on a farm at
Pershing when they decided to change their agricul-
ture career from pork to grapes. They soon moved to
Hermann, where Jim and Betty both graduated high
school.
"People ask me how come I changed jobs," said
Jim. "I tell them, it's about bouquet--from hog smell
to grape smell, and that's a big difference."
Their pig farmwas in creek bottoms and Gasconade
River bottom. A wine cellar on those family farms
was commonplace. Small vineyards produced enough
grapes for a yearly barrel of wine. But what the Helds
were about to set out to do was a huge challenge, not
your grandpa's barrel of wine in the cellar.
As far as Jim and Betty Held's story goes, a large
winemaking operation would require the whole fam-
ily's involvement.
The Held's oldest son, Jon, was seven when they
crushed their first grape harvest. Young Jon would
also take his turn at the handle of the crusher, which
had belonged to Jim's grandpa.
Their youngest child, Julie, was 3 when they
moved to Hermann and started making wine.
"We crushed in that same little cellar where we
bottled," said Betty. "Patty and Thomas would sit on
the steps, and once in a while they would have to run
up the steps and check on the baby."
They picked grapes during the day and crushed
them at night. It became a passion for a young couple
seeking to make their new farming venture work.
The Helds, in 1965, were the only winery in
Missouri with a domestic license when they re-turned
winemaking to Stone Hill, which before Prohibition,
was the second largest winery in North America. But
first, they had to clean out all the manure in the bins
that were in the historic cellars.
The first thing Jim did when they made a commit-
ment to the winery was buy a book--a pretty simple
beginning for a guy who, along with his wife, built a
multi-million dollar business.
"The book was called 'The Technology of
Winemaking.' It cost $67, a lot of money back then.
It's still in print today."
His desire to become more knowledgeable about
making wine led him to take a short course in the
state of California. Jim would go out west for a couple
of weeks while Betty would stay home with the kids.
Jim and Betty lived upstairs at the winery's main
building for 27 years, then moved into the restored
Poeschel house that the Harrisons once owned west
of town.
Jim went out to California twice for those short-
course classes on how to make wine.
Over time, Stone Hill has added new varieties to
their production line, and as Jim points out, a lot of
people's tastes have switched to drier wines. Thus,
the Norton has became one of those. It's a grape that
has also been called Virginia Seedling, Virginia or
Cynthiana. But the old-timers in the Hermann area
called it the "Virginia Seedling." Old writings from
1903 that Jim came across called it that.
Being savvy about making wine for the Helds was
keeping their eyes and ears open. They were always
looking for suggestions on how to improve their
wines.
One year, in the early 1970s, a professor from
Switzerland who was touring the country stayed with
the Helds for two weeks. He was there during har-
vest, and worked with the actual wine-making, said
Betty.
He also taught Jim a lot, especially about sanita-
tion.
"He said, 'Jim, winemaking is 99 percent cleanli-
ness, and the other 1 percent is cleanliness, too.' "
The Helds were, indeed, Missouri pioneers in
modern-day winemaking. Others followed the lead of
Jim and Betty, and their first commercial winery.
Today there are 100-plus wineries in Missouri.
In the early years, there was a state law that per-
mitted Stone Hill to produce only 5,000 gallons of
wine a year. With the help of the late C. M. "Cap"
Bassman, then state representative, the Helds got
the law changed in the 1970s to 75,000 gallons. Later,
it was changed to unlimited gallons.
No one appreciates the Missouri Grape and Wine
Board more than Jim and Betty Held. The state
agency offers support, both in know-how and market-
ing.
"When we started there was nobody in Missouri to
ask questions," said Jim.
He's forever thankful for that $67 book he pur-
chased on how to make wine.
By Don Kruse, Reprinted from the Fall 2013 Visitor
Jim & Betty Held